By Ibrahim Ramalan
Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday challenged the judiciary to look inward and fight against real and perceived corrupt practices within the system.
The President gave the charge in Abuja while declaring open this year’s All Nigerian Judges’ Conference, with the theme: “The Judiciary as a Veritable Instrument for Sustaining Democracy in Nigeria.”
Buhari, who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said the judiciary should also improve its capacity to act independently, courageously, and tirelessly.
He said: “May I most especially urge that the Nigerian judiciary must do all that is possible to fight against the perception and the reality of growing judicial corruption.
“As an institution dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights, the judiciary must go the extra mile to sanitise itself and improve its capacity to act independently, courageously and tirelessly.
“Further on the point of negative perception, there is both local and international dissatisfaction of the long delays in the trial process. In the past few years, this has become especially so for high profile cases of corruption, especially where they involve serving or former political office holders.”
He noted that government’s attempts to recover loots were often met with delayed tactics by lawyers in the trial process, thus denying the state and the accused person the opportunity of judicial verdict, warning that such attitude must not continue.
Buhari reasoned that such delays or outright inaction were at times beyond the courts and in several cases “consequences of shoddy investigation, out-modelled rules of procedure, poor prosecution or unprofessional practices of counsel.”
He said judicial reform must take into consideration the clean-up of the systems and processes in all the courts handling cases involving the poor to portray the courts as humane and efficient.
The president said the ability to enforce contractual obligations and resolve disputes would inform the decision of potential local and international investors about where to invest.
“Delay in judicial processes has caused the economy dearly in terms of much needed investment as investors prefer other jurisdictions where the progress of court cases is much more predictable and in accordance with the rule of law.”
According to him, this is a big disincentive to business as judicial delays have damaged the international reputation of the country’s judiciary.
The President, who said the judiciary had performed well in the past, also advised people to always bear in mind that the administration of justice is the foundation of genuine democracy.
Buhari noted that the nation’s Supreme Court was one of the busiest in the world, but said the court should be allowed to focus on key constitutional issues, noting that it was not necessary to appeal interlocutory matters up to the Supreme Court.
The President also advised judges to be courageous and not to hesitate in sanctioning lawyers and litigants, who deliberately delayed trials, even as he enjoined the judiciary to revisit previous reform panels of its experts help improve the legal practice.
He reiterated the present administration’s commitment to the financial independence of the judiciary in accordance with extant laws and must be treated fairly as the executive and the legislative.
While insisting that judicial transparency and accountability in the use of funds, procurement, and auditing should be sacrosanct, the president expressed the hope that deliberations at the conference would lift the country out of many of the current social problems.